A Burnaby native, Nugent-Hopkins was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Gabriel Landeskog of Colorado Avalanche took the award that goes to the league's top rookie.

Nugent-Hopkins wants to follow the example of Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff, who helped him adapt to the NHL.

"People see what you do and they want to try to be like that," he said. "The more respect you have, the better the leader you're going to be."

Nugent-Hopkins played for the Oilers AHL's Oklahoma City affiliate during the NHL lockout. He had eight goals and adding 12 assists in 19 games before coming to Canada's camp.

He was cut from Canada's junior team as a 17-year-old in 2011 and wasn't made available by the Oilers for the 2012 team. So Nugent-Hopkins will play in his first world junior hockey championship after having participating in a men's world championship.

Nugent-Hopkins had four goals and two assists in eight games in Canada's fifth-place result at the 2012 men's world championship.

"I've got a couple of chances now to play international and every time I feel like it makes me a little bit of a better player because it is so different," he said.

Scott Harrington of the OHL's London Knights and Jonathan Huberdeau of the QMJHL's Saint John Sea Dogs were named alternate captains.

"Those players have played in Memorial Cups and obviously in a world junior championship already," Spott said. "All three of those guys are not only well-respected, but they're well liked by their teammates."

Spott said he considered waiting to name his captains because of uncertainty over when the NHL lockout might end and how it could impact the team.

"We definitely made sure that we spoke with Edmonton and they were part of the process," Spott said. "They were fully supportive of the decision and excited for Ryan."

Canada has no guarantees from the Oilers, however, that Nugent-Hopkins will stay with the team until tournament's end Jan. 5 if the lockout ends.

Talks on a collective bargaining agreement are expected to resume on Dec. 26. The lockout has reached 100 days, with hope fading to save the season.

Nugent-Hopkins will center Canada's top forward line with Huberdeau on his left wing. The team intends to convert regular center Mark Scheifele to right wing on that line.